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25 March 2015

Transitioning from MDGs to SDGs: Accountability for the post-2015 era

A panel discussion organized by the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) was held on 24 March, featuring CDP Chair José Antonio Ocampo, CDP Vice Chair Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, and CDP members Stephan Klasen and Tea Petrin. The discussion centred on concrete recommendations for establishing an effective accountability framework for development in the post-2015 era. In particular, critical elements were identified on which a reformed and strengthened monitoring and accountability framework need to be built.

A Facebook chat was held on Thursday, 12 February, from 10:00 am to 11:30 am EST to discuss the current state of the world economy and growth prospects for 2015 and 2016. Economists from the Global Economic Monitoring Unit of UN/DESA's Development Policy and Analysis Division were on hand to answer questions from the online community about the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2015. Questions were posted at http://bit.ly/AskWESP2015 or on Twitter @UNDESA and @UNDevelopPolicy using the hashtag #AskWESP2015.

10 February 2015

Highlights of the Monthly Briefing on the World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP), No. 75.

Pingfan Hong, Director of DPAD/DESA, will be presenting his analysis on the growth patterns of MDGs and how it needs to be transformed for the new Sustainable Development Goals this Wednesday, 11 February 2015, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm at the United Nations Secretariat, Room S-2727FC.

The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2015 forecasts global economic growth to increase marginally over the next two years at 3.1 per cent in 2015 and 3.3 per cent in 2016, compared with an estimated growth of 2.6 per cent for 2014. An expected US interest rate increase, remaining euro area fragility, a further slowdown in developing economies and geopolitical conflicts pose major concerns for the global economic outlook.

The report was launched today in Bangkok, Beirut, Geneva, Mexico and Moscow. A launch will be held in New Delhi on January 20 and Addis Ababa on January 22.

UN/DESA Expert Group Meeting on the world economy
October 22-24, New York

The annual UN/DESA Expert Group Meeting on the World Economy (also known as the Project LINK Meeting) starts today in New York and will lead off with a discussion on the world economic outlook facilitated by Peter H. Pauly, Vice-Dean and Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto; Juan Francisco Yepez-Albornoz of the International Monetary Fund; Marc Stocker of the World Bank, and Pingfan Hong, Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division in UN/DESA.

This year's three-day meeting will include presentations by a wide range of participants from academia, economic research institutions and international economic organizations including Kanemi Ban of Kochi University of Technology in Japan, Gregory Daco of Oxford Economics, Pavlos Karadeloglou of the European Central Bank and David Turner of the OECD. United Nations colleagues from the regional commissions of ECA, ECE, ECLAC, ESCAP and ESCWA will also be on hand to present the issues and outlook for their respective regions.

Project LINK is an international collaborative research group for econometric modelling, coordinated jointly by the Development Policy and Analysis Division of UN/DESA and the University of Toronto. Inputs from the meeting will be incorporated in the flagship publication, World Economic Situation and Prospects 2015, to be released in January 2015.

Staffmembers from across DESA and other UN offices and agencies convened their first expert group meeting on 16 October in New York, to discuss the sketches of the five chapters that will comprise the 2015 World Economic and Social Survey (WESS). DPAD Director, Pingfan Hong, noted that the WESS 2015 theme MDG Lessons for Post-2015 is a "good opportunity, as well as a daunting challenge, for the team to provide Member States and the general public with a timely and useful study on lessons for achieving the Millennium Development Goals that will pave the way for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals". The Survey is scheduled for publication in July 2015.

15 October 2014

Highlights of the Monthly Briefing on the World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP), No. 71.

The MDG Gap Task Force Report 2014: The State of the Global Partnership for Development was launched today, Thursday, 18 September 2014, in a press briefing at 11 am EST featuring Wu Hongbo, Under Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Thomas Gass, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, Magdy Martinez Soliman, Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations Development Programme and Pingfan Hong, Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division, UN/DESA. The recorded press briefing can be viewed below. For more information, visit the MDG Gap page or iif.un.org

Dr. Ha-Joon Chang, Faculty of Economics at University of Cambridge, was the featured speaker at the Development Policy Seminar held at the UN Headquarters today. Speaking on his most recent book, Economics: The User's Guide, Dr. Chang introduced a wide range of economic theories, from neo-classical to Schumpetarian, revealing their strengths and weaknesses and demonstrating why there is no one way to explain economic behaviour.

Global governance and global rules for development in the post-2015 era

The Committee for Development Policy has released its 2014 Policy Note on Global governance and global rules for development in the post-2015 era. In this Policy Note, the Committee analyses how intergovernmental cooperation could be strengthened to better manage the increasing interdependence among countries, reduce large inequalities among and within countries and contribute to the implementation of the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, while preserving the necessary policy space for government action at the country level. On 7 July during the ECOSOC High-level segment, Professor Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Vice Chair of the Committee, will deliver a statement on the global governance and global rules for development post-2015.

Pingfan Hong was appointed Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division (DPAD) effective 1 July 2014.

A Chinese national, Pingfan Hong joined the United Nations in 1989 and has since worked mostly in the areas of economic research and policy analysis, particularly global economic outlook, macroeconomic policies, and international policy coordination. Since April 2013, Dr. Hong has been serving dual roles as Acting Director of DPAD and Chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Unit. He is the lead author and coordinator of the World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) and has also worked extensively with Project LINK in global modelling and forecasting. Dr. Hong worked as an Officer in the State Planning Commission of China and as a Research Fellow and Assistant to Professor Lawrence Klein at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, a Dual Master in Computer Sciences and Management Sciences from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and a Bachelor in Engineering from Wu Xi Institute of Light Industrial Technology. He is the World Bank McNamara Fellow of 1985.

16 June 2014

DPAD completes capacity development project in Jordan

On 3-5 June 2014 in Amman, Jordan, DPAD led the final workshop and activities under the capacity development project “Strengthening Macroeconomic and Social Policy Coherence through Integrated Macro-Micro Modelling”. During the workshop participants received guidance on how to simulate policies that were specifically designed to inform the country’s economic development plan (EDP). Modelling frameworks were used to assess economic impacts as well as changes in poverty, inequality, and human development indicators resulting from simulated policies.

Economists from the Global Economic Monitoring Unit of the Development Policy and Analysis Division (DPAD) held a Facebook chat on the world economy today following the release of its mid-year update of the World Economic Situation and Prospects. The online community raised questions ranging from macroeconomic issues, such as quantitative easing and interest rate policy, to more specific regional and national economic issues. Over 180 Facebook followers participated in the one-hour chat.

11 June 2014

Highlights of the Monthly Briefing on the World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP), No. 67.

The world economy is expected to accelerate in 2014-2015

North American and European economies will experience a similar growth trajectory

As projected in the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2014, the world economy is expected to strengthen in 2014-2015, although the latest updated global growth trajectory is slightly lower than previously forecast. Recovery in the developed economies will continue, but the growth prospects for the developing economies and the economies in transition have been revised downward, largely because of worsened economic and/or political conditions in a number of countries in these two latter groups. The LINK Economic Outlook June 2014 report presents the short-term prospects for the global economy in 2014-2015, including major risks and policy challenges.